Cities Skylines has a stylish cousin, as 96%-rated road builder plans big update

Offices, industries, parks, landfills – none of these matter in Cities Skylines unless you have good roads. It's less and less certain that Colossal Order will reinvent and turn around its faltering sequel, but for all its struggles, Cities Skylines 2 does have good road-building tools, especially the roundabouts and the instant grids. Transport Fever 3 is looking pretty in-depth, too, and of course, Saber's Roadcraft is all about logistics at the ground level. Essentially, if you have a taste for transit and tarmac, there's a lot to choose from right now. But don't forget Mini Motorways. Four years since it was originally released, the minimalist car strategy game still has almost-flawless player reviews, and it's soon getting a transformational update borne from fans' biggest dreams.

Mini Motorways is road building at its purest and simplest. Playing from a top-down perspective, you're presented with a city map filled with differently colored skyscrapers and houses. Cars, too, are color coded. The challenge is to connect red houses to red buildings, blue to blue, yellow to yellow, etcetera, and divert the appropriately shaded vehicles in the corresponding directions. The longer it takes you to establish a flowing road network, the closer a timer gets to zero. It's a city-building game and strategy game at the same time. Despite the minimalist aesthetic, your planning and your 'tactics' need to be razor sharp.

Of the more than 20,000 player reviews posted for Mini Motorways during its lifetime, 96% are positive. The game's 2025 roadmap already includes two new locations, but now, developer Dinosaur Polo Club confirms that fans' most-wanted features are finally on the way.

The upcoming Mini Motorways update will finally introduce Creative Mode, allowing players to reshape the city map however they see fit. You can pivot and rearrange the buildings, swap their colors, delete sections, and alter the terrain. If you want to create an easy, breezy free-flowing chill-out city, you can. On the contrary, maybe you want to design a map that tests your management skills and stress levels to the brink.

As confirmed at Summer Game Fest, the Mini Motorways Creative Mode update will be released on Tuesday August 26. In the meantime, if you haven't tried it yet, you can get the game right here.

Alternatively, check out the best simulation games, or maybe the best RTS games available on PC.

You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We've also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.